Both sides were ahead at some point in the game, but neither side ever had overall control. Brazil were much better than in the first game going forward, but looked significantly more vulnerable at the back (perhaps because they were up against a better team).

Paraguay tactics

Martino had a habit of frustrating bigger sides at the World Cup last year with this shape, and Brazil found it difficult to stamp their authority on the game. Santa Cruz nullifed Andre Santos, who wasn’t brave or intelligent enough to influence the game on the left, and the left-back also switched off and let Santa Cruz run past him for a couple of chances.

In the midfield, Enrique Vera sat deep and picked up Ganso, with two central midfielders ahead doing battle with Brazil’s two holders. Marcelo Estigarrabia took on Dani Alves. Paraguay generally defended very narrow both at the back and in midfield, forcing Brazil to go down the flanks.

Brazil tactics

The decision to bring in Jadson over Robinho was not about personnel, it was about shape. In Brazil’s first game against Venezuela, Ganso struggled to provide decisive passes for Brazil’s front three. Part of the problem was that there was too much emphasis placed upon him for creativity, and there was a separate issue: he played too high up, and Brazil couldn’t find him with an initial pass from midfield.

In purely numerical terms, having one man providing creativity and using three men higher up the pitch ready to put the finishing touches to moves didn’t make sense – the introduction of Jadson, in a deeper, more central role than Robinho, was about shifting the balance. Jadson meant Brazil’s build-up play was more gradual, and Ganso had a colleague in close proximity to help create.

Ganso-Jadson

This worked pretty well, even if Brazil’s attacking play was still patchy. The Ganso-Jadson combination caused problems for Paraguay between the lines, and twice they linked up well – first when exchanging passes for a great chance Pato wasted, and then for the goal, where Ganso teed up Jadson to fire home.

Interestingly, this change in system also meant an alteration to the way the two holding midfielders played. In the Venezuela game, Ramires generally played to the left of Lucas, but here he played to the right, presumably as Menezes wanted him to shuttle out to the right and cover the (barer than usual) right flank. Pato also moved out to the right more – his movement was less restricted with only one forward alongside him. Brazil again tried to hit long balls towards Pato, though, which doesn’t really play to his strengths.

Paraguay compete in midfield

Paraguay were defending well as a unit, pressing at the right moments and meaning that Ganso rarely picked up the ball on his way to goal – he had to come deep, or receive the ball with his back to goal, unlike in the first game, where Venezuela pushed up too high and gave him space between the lines.

Nestor Ortigoza was good on the ball for Martino’s side, dictating play from deep, and coming short to collect the ball. This caused Brazil some confusion in midfield as Lucas moved up the pitch to close down Ortigoza, when he would have preferred to sit deep with Ramires higher up.

The five stages of Menezes' move from 4-2-3-1. ONE: The 4-2-1-3 against Venezuela. TWO: The modified 4-2-1-3 for this game, with Jadson in for Robinho, and the two holders switching ides. THREE: Elano replaces Jadson on the right. FOUR: Lucas Moura comes on for Ramires, with Elano moving deep. FIVE: Fred replaces Neymar.

Second half

Menezes made a change at half time, withdrawing Jadson and bringing on Elano in the same position. His reasoning, presumably, was to guard against a second yellow card – and with Alves being given something of a difficult time by the tricky Estigarrabia, some extra cover was needed.

Unfortunately, this destabilized the Brazilian side, and despite enjoying a good relationship at club level, the Elano-Ganso combination didn’t work particularly well. Nor did it help defensively – Elano was caught out for Paraguay’s equaliser. Alves made an individual error for the slightly fortunate second Paraguayan goal.

Brazilian subs

Menezes made two further attacking substitutions to try and get back in the game. First, Ramires went off, and Lucas Moura came on. This meant Elano going deeper into the Ramires role, and Lucas Moura playing as something approaching a second number ten alongside Ganso, even more narrow than Jadson had played. There was now no right-winger, with Alves trying to cover the entire flank by himself.

That narrowed Brazil on the right, and the second change narrowed them on the left. The ineffectual Neymar was removed for Fred, who played as a central striker, and suddenly Brazil were more like a 4-2-2-2 – Lucas Leiva and Elano holding, Ganso and Lucas Moura creating, Fred and Pato upfront. This narrow system almost played into the hands of Paraguay’s narrowness, but late on an attack right through the middle got Brazil their equaliser – Ganso again got the assist with a clever flick, and Fred struck the ball into the corner.

Conclusion

The first Copa game with more than three goals in it – first and foremost, this was an entertaining match.

Martino kept roughly the same shape throughout, whilst Menezes chopped and changed. Neither conclusively won the tactical battle – Paraguay defended well in open play but sometimes got overloaded between the lines with two Brazilian creators.

Brazil’s problem defensively was their right flank, although Andre Santos had a habit of switching off and letting men run past him. Another change for the final group game wouldn’t be a surprise, perhaps with Fred starting permanently as a central striker.

56 Responses to “ Brazil 2-2 Paraguay: Brazil snatch the draw ”

Brazil played very narrow last night and against Venezuela. One of the oddest things is that Dani Alves’ runs have tended to be angled from wide into the centre and getting involved with the passing in the middle of the pitch. Santos hasn”t exactly been bombing up and down the left flank either so with Neymar cutting inside the space becomes even narrower. Hence they’re not stretching really from the full backs and both Venezuela and Paraguay defended compact and made easier work of it.

Marcelo’s exclusion is becoming more and more indefensible. Neymar wouldn’t be quite as anonymous with a teammate who actually knew how to overlap.

supermadridsta on July 10, 2011 at 7:31 pm

Blatant favoritism or stupidity from Menezes, picking santos ahead of Marcelo. Marcelo is just better.

rawr on July 10, 2011 at 7:58 pm

Exactly my thoughts. With his performance last season he should easily make the starting line up. Brazil’s left flank looked toothless last game.

john on July 10, 2011 at 8:20 pm

Apparently Marcelo doesn’t want to play for brazil, he’s been caught sending email where he was bragging about how easily he avoided a selection

manfanutd on July 10, 2011 at 9:01 pm

Marcelo was not included because the manager believes he doesn’t want to be there. He pretended to be injured to get out of international matches and was caught playing for Madrid after having done so. I believe that would be what any manager with courage would have done.

Gustavo Carnesella on July 10, 2011 at 9:33 pm

Even so, Brazil has better options at left-back: Adriano is on the bench, Kleber and Maxwell are at home…Andre Santos has the sympathy of Mano Menezes, he had his best spell of football while at Corinthians, with Mano in charge.

manfanutd on July 10, 2011 at 9:38 pm

Adriano surely is a better option, but maybe the idea is to let Alves bombard forward and keep the other defender back to keep the defense solid. Maybe Santos has been told to keep put and focus on defending rather than contibute to the attack. Just a thought.

Jair on July 10, 2011 at 10:35 pm

i agree with manfanutd.Adriano is by far a better option. Maybe we will see him later on in the tournament if they make it far. But like i’ve said before, brazil are sorely missing a potent no.9 in the mould of a Ronaldo. For a country with such great attacking talent you would think otherwise, but they have never found a replacement for el fenomeno. Pato is good but he is far from being a clinical striker and is not lethal up front. is Leandro Damiao part of the team. ?

Gustavo Carnesella on July 10, 2011 at 10:42 pm

No, Fred was picked for his experience, Damião stayed in Brazil. But Damião isn’t ready yet for international level…maybe in another year, he will.

Anonymous on July 10, 2011 at 3:54 pm

Ganso looks a fascinating prospect, but I can’t see him taking to European football.

Fuad on July 10, 2011 at 4:22 pm

The 5 stages of Brazil’s shape is the coolest diagram you’ve ever made on this site!

Josef on July 11, 2011 at 4:11 pm

I like it too and hope it becomes a regular feature, though it seems to shift between the various formations a tad too rapidly.

Leandro on July 13, 2011 at 9:22 pm

I also love it! Really cool and informative.

Neymar did not work against Paraguay for the same reason Robinho did not work against Venezuela, the team’s lopsided shape left them isolated. It’s clear when you look at the 5 stage diagram.

Keep Jadson and have Ramires stay on the left, it would distribute play better.

Galvez on July 10, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Scoring two against Paraguay in a game they’re taking seriously is no small feat. They are one of the most solid defensive teams in the world. The shape-shifting was necessary just to provide those options, but when all is said Paraguay played better as a team and were closer to a win.

Paraguay is my bet for the winners of the CONMEBOL qualifying Battle Royale.

Raphaell on July 10, 2011 at 5:32 pm

I’m not nearly quite as experienced as you guys, but just contributing how I saw the game:
Mano Menezes set up a team that would ’support’ Daniel Alves bombing high up the pitch. Started with his stronger defensive midfielder (Lucas Leiva) closer to the right, most likely to try and cover Daniel Alves. Now, when I watch the replay of the two paraguayan goals, it’s expected that they would infiltrate through the right, but the team was already apparently set up for dealing with that, the problem was that Andre Santos was too high up the pitch and did not come back at all to help Lucio and Thiago Silva. Basically, Brazil was defending with 2 defenders and 1 midfilder (Lucas Leiva) most of the time. I’m pretty sure Andre Santos was supposed to help defend, because he’s definitely not good offensively so one would suppose that he was put there to help defend (as Daniel Alves is already going high up the pitch, I’m pretty sure sending both fullbacks full offensive is not a good idea, as was also proven by this game). Problem is Andre Santos did not help defend, and helped very little (nearly didn’t) in the attack. I saw the game as a 10v11, Andre Santos did basically nothing, he marked Santa Cruz terribly and did not do anything noticeable in the attack. Wouldn’t Adriano Correia (FC Barcelona) be possibly a solution at left back? I remember Adriano helping Barcelona defend quite decently in the few games he played (in fact a few times he “saved” the team being the one to clear the ball/tackle and/or the last man), and he’s a decent help in the attack. Andre Santos performance in this match was disastrous, I’d never seen a left back so ineffective, surely Adriano would be at least equal or better. I would appreciate any criticism from you guys regarding this idea. I saw both goals as an indirect result from Andre Santos terrible defensive positioning (I may very well be wrong).

Anyways, Ganso had an excellent match, the two Brazilian goals are mostly because of his performance. As of now the team is relying a LOT on him. If he plays nicely, Brazil will score goals. If he plays bad, Brazil will not score goals. This is how it has been so far. At the back, Lucio and Thiago Silva are doing an excellent job, as I said in my opinion the goals were mostly due to the left back being nowhere to be found defensively. Pato is currently not really doing OK as an centre-forward, he’s better when playing as a second striker so I believe Fred will be used as a CF in the next games, with possibly Pato as a right winger of sorts and Neymar at the left. I really don’t believe Robinho has a place in the team anymore, I wish Hulk had been called. Regardless, it was an entertaining game to watch.

I really enjoy reading your reviews, they’re always enlightening, keep up the excellent work at ZonalMarking.

re “supporting” Dani Alves.
For Barcelona, Gerard Pique drifts right when Barcelona have possession, thus allowing Alves to advance without fear. Next, either Busquets drops deep or Abidal slides toward the center, closing down the space vacated by Pique and forming a 3-4-3. Here’s a visual of that mechanism.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cw83M81Twg
Since Alves doesn’t need to worry about leaving space behind, he can lead and inspire Barcelona’s pressing game. He’s the crucial extra man in the “through marking” system that wins the ball high up the pitch so often and leads to so many goals.

As good as Lucio is, he just isn’t comfortable defending the right flank, and is even more shaky when forced to defend high up the pitch. Lucas Leiva isn’t in a good position to cover for Alves either, because he needs to hold down the fort in front of Brazil’s defense so that Ramires can use his energy to prevent Brazil from being a broken team. Mano Menezes simply has to find a way to liberate Dani Alves, but there is no simple or obvious solution (Thiago Silva and David Luiz prefer to play as left sided center backs)

john on July 11, 2011 at 12:36 am

Putting david luiz as left back would permit that as i said previously, lucio doesn’t have to play rightback, it’s more about having 3 centerbacks then covering the whole width of the field.
david luiz, thiago silva and lucio have all the qualities required to make it work in my opinion, lucio’s incomfortability would soon be a detail.

jonas on July 11, 2011 at 1:45 pm

playing thiago silva in edmilson role in world cup 2002 maybe? silva played in defensive midfield role for milan for a few times didn’t he?

Hector on July 10, 2011 at 5:41 pm

I must say I am missing Dunga’s Brazil.

Sir Bow on July 10, 2011 at 9:30 pm

Yup, Dunga’s brazil are more effective than this team.
They now use second striker as a target man (I mean Pato), when Dunga used Fabiano as a target man because he have a great finishing.
I hope Fred starting the next game

DUNGA on July 11, 2011 at 3:56 am

its not that this team doesn’t have the potential to be very good, but they’re a few things missing:

1) Leadership: Ganso, Neymar, Robinho are talented, but they’re not leaders. Who is commanding the attack? No one

2) Experience: Neymar and Ganso have been wasteful with the former doing too many tricks and the latter far too rusty to be a key figure for Brazil

Dunga's Assistant on July 11, 2011 at 11:44 am

Don’t forget the finishing boss.
Pato didn’t produce any goal in two game that he started.
Maybe Hulk will give more option, but he’s not called by menezes.
So stupid

Josef on July 11, 2011 at 4:16 pm

Fred? jeez, I couldn’t believe it when I saw ZM say that. Personally, I can’t believe they brought him – I would have included Nilmar from Villarreal instead, and Hulk in place of Elias.

Leandro on July 13, 2011 at 9:16 pm

I agree. Pato is not the problem, he had a good game against Venezuela, and Fred is certainly not the man to fix any problems up front. Considering Fred’s recent unimpressive form, it’s strange he’s part of the squad at all.

Don’t get me started on Dunga, the man wins Copa America, Confederations Cup, then loses ONE match and gets sacked.

beren333 on July 10, 2011 at 6:03 pm

Ganso did make two clever assists here, but he did not yet seem to be at the level to control the game as expected of him (the same can be said about Neymar, although he does not have assists or goals). They both seem to have talent, but I think they are sitll too young and inexperienced for a side like Brazil to depend on them so heavily for attacking creativity, Menezes should be figuring this out, as the introduction of Jadson over Robinho seems to suggest.

A pity that both Brazilian fullbacks are failing to be impressive too, they are so needed to provide that width and speed in their attack. Shame Marcelo didn’t get picked, for whatever reason. But looking at Dani Alves, who terrorizes the right flank in league but is quiet here, maybe Marcelo may serve a similar fate.

john on July 10, 2011 at 6:07 pm

If andre santos continues to show he’s not quite what brazil want, and if brazil need to find a defence/offense balance difficult to find with 2 very offensive fullbacks woulnd’t it be a solution to try david luiz as left back?

he’s played the role before, he has the skill to go forward when needed and he could form a back 3 with thiago silva and lucio giving them a lot of the security they lack
At the same time it would allow the rest of the team to be more offensive, a lot of tactical choices would be available with a change like that, i won’t try to display them all…

Tom on July 10, 2011 at 6:39 pm

I think that Ganso would be perfect for Italian football based on what I saw last season – lots of stop start matches with possession given away in midfield cheaply. He would have time on the ball and would be free to pick lots of passes in the same way that Seedorf and Pirlo do.
I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on playing Thiago Silva or David Luiz as central midfielders. I don’t really see Ramires as a world class midfielder, but these two, in my eyes, are phenomenal and either would be a very interesting proposition to break up attacks and charge forward. Any ideas on why they aren’t used in more advanced roles?

manfanutd on July 10, 2011 at 9:11 pm

As good as a central defender David Luiz looks to be, he would make a phenomenal defensive midfielder in my opinion. Haven’t watched Thiago Silva much so can’t comment on him. Haven’t followed Italian football much. Was he not used in the midfield a couple of times by Milan though? I might be wrong on that.

Sir Bow on July 10, 2011 at 9:39 pm

Thiago Silva can play a Defensive Midfielder too, he once play on that position at AC milan.
I think i must agree with Tom. Having only Lucas, Lucio, and Silva at the back are stupid idea, Brazil play too attacking mind, because Andre Santos and Alves doesn’t look to help the brazil defense very much.

john on July 11, 2011 at 9:56 pm

yes, they can manage a very good 3 men defence, with dani alves being the 4th when under opponent domination i believe .

But they’d have to find a way to stretch the left side of the field, because neymar tends to go inside a lot, maybe with the young lucas even though he seems to prefer the other side.

Gustavo Carnesella on July 10, 2011 at 9:40 pm

Ramires is a important part of the team: his energy is impressive, it’s nice to have him battling and running the whole pitch like crazy (in my opinion, every team needs a player like him). Like in the first goal, his fight for the ball, running, falling down, tackling and escaping fouls were even more important than Ganso’s pass for Jadson. He’s also very tough for such a slim lad.

Thiago Silva played well as defensive midfielder for Milan sometimes, but Brazil do have quality central midfielders (Lucas, Sandro, Hernanes), so it’s hard to believe that Mano would improvise on that position.

manfanutd on July 10, 2011 at 9:08 pm

Marcelo Estigarrabia did very well on the flanks. Over the past year, I have not seen Dani Alves struggle as much defensively as he did against him. Good to see young players standing out in the Copa so far.

Sir Bow on July 10, 2011 at 9:18 pm

I Love you ZM.
The Gif Picture also explain anything, thank you

Gustavo Carnesella on July 10, 2011 at 9:57 pm

Brazil is still a developing team. Paulo Vinícius Coelho, ESPN Brasil journalist, makes a very interesting point (pessimistic for some, realistic for me): Brazil isn’t the best team in the world, nor has the better football overall. Spain has it: world champions, european champions, have the best team in the world and play beautifully. We aren’t even the best here in South America, with Uruguay conquering back their spot as a great football country – were the best south american of the last World Cup. It’s also such a young team: Ganso, Neymar, Pato are still at olympic age. Specially Neymar, who received a lot of the responsability from the media and the fans, is feeling the shirt’s “weight”.

As for the game, I don’t remember such a poor performance from both the full-backs, they were just dreadful. Dani Alves was at miles away in the first Paraguay goal, then gave away the second; Andre Santos didn’t cover for both goals as he should, and didn’t try a single attacking play the whole game. It’s hard to criticize the whole defensive system when two of the six players play so badly. Neymar was wasteful, always trying to make a beautiful play. Ganso and Jadson worked well together, and I still can’t accept Mano’s excuse for withdrawing him. At the end, the individual quality made the difference.

We need to be pacient and realistic about Brazil. It’s not the best team in the world, it actually needs a lot of hard work to do so. Maybe that’s the bad thing about being “the greatest football team ever”: the media and the people always expect the trophy, the beautiful game, when we need calm and serenity to accept the fact that it may need a little more time for this team to actually get going.

Chris on July 11, 2011 at 12:41 pm

“Brazil isn’t the best team in the world, nor has the better football overall.”

I think as good as the individual players are (although some seem to be overrated) Brazil is struggling as a team for some years now. I watched the first few games of the Copa and I ask myself if in general South American football is loosing ground against Europe.
If I take a look at current teams like Spain, Netherlands and Germany I see much more concept and structure there…with Spain clearly being the Gorilla in world football in last years.
Maybe it is the point in time of the tournament where all the stars from european leagues should be in preseason after vacation but so far it is underwhelming.

Mati on July 11, 2011 at 4:39 pm

very true, but still…this is not what Mano promised when he got the job. the early signs were encouraging, but it all spiralled back down into something between Dunga-ism and total chaos. maybe not total, but nevertheless, this is a chaotic Brazil side. atleast with Dunga, the team was organized!

Mano is transitioning the side in preparation for 2014. but the numbers speak for themselves. 4 of the 23 selected players are 30 or over. where will they be in 2014? 8 are between the ages of 27-29 (this includes both right backs, and by the end of the year both leftbacks), where will they be in 2014? how many players selected are young (U23)? 5, with none of them being a goalkeeper or defender. only Sandro plays a pivotal position in midfield, the rest are attack minded. the guys in between, aged 24-26 are either not Brazil material IMHO, not being tested to gain experience, or are Mano’s friends from previous coaching jobs.

for Brazil, this should be unacceptable! OK, aside from this obssession with being the best, winning all the trophies, etc. Brazil still produces the most sound players in individual terms. collectivism will come with work, just as Argentina, Chile & Uruguay have done with their youth squads. again, this goes back to an issue Mano has promised to solve, as Brazil does not promote enough players from U20 level to first team. if this was remotely true, wouldn’t Neymar & Lucas be better off competeing at U20 level alongside the amzing Coutinho, Negueba, Oscar, Casemiro, Alex Sandro & Danilo? all these players are future internationals, or should be atleast in the pre-elim 30, 40 or so.

Mano won’t satisfy everyone, and I’m against the negative short-term look in Brazilian media. but its not an excuse for shabby, disorganized, reactive football. Mano never promised this!

Absolutley horrdi game by dani alves the worst I have ever seen him with brazil. Both goals through his right flank, elano may have been off but with 4 defnder it should have been enough to compensate. Brazil really started to click and Mano’s vison was starting to take shape.

As you mentioned, dropping Robinho was a purely tactical move, but nevertheless, I’m glad that personnel wise he was left out. The lad has some skill, but there is just too much fluff in his play in front of goal; Jadson is much better.

Mati on July 11, 2011 at 5:18 am

it would be a disaster if Brazil exit the Copa in their next game. I can’t see it happening, but at the same time, Mano has yet to convince.

the team Mano sent out was so obviously unblanced, it was odd he didn’t try to change anything early on in the game. when you see a bald player with the name “Veron” on his shirt, you can’t help but think he’s a midfielder. Veron had so much space on the right it was disgusting. time and again (camera angle helped emphasise this) he’d pop up unmarked, near the half-way line, open to recieve a cross-field ball. Neymar won’t track him, Andre Santos is too far back, Ramires is on the right, Lucas won’t risk it…and no reaction from Mano!

ideally, Brazil’s left side would have been ripe for the picking, but with Estigarribia tormenting Dani, Paraguay seemed to make Brazil think that flank was their weakness. afterall, Brazil’s shape is slanted towards the right. would it be easier to have them occupied on that side with more players around that area? i think its an issue of if you attack it you blance things out, whereas if you focus on attacking the weaker left side, you risk vacating too much space for Dani, Ramires, Jadson, etc.

While I’m not a big Lucio fan (he just rubs me the wrong way), in reality he moved to Inter and cemented their back line under Mourinho, winding up with a league/cup/CL triple and beating his old team in the process. And Van Gaal lost his job. hmmmmm….

Mati on July 12, 2011 at 7:51 am

you’re absolutely right. but Van Gaal lost his job the following season. and by the time Van Gaal lost his job, what titles did Lucio’s Inter retain? Coppa Italia only!

what I said is no attack on the great defender Lucio is. but Van Gaal has a style which Lucio does not fit. the key in your comment is “under Mourinho”. in 2009-10, their league stats were F75 A34. without Mourinho, they had F69 A42.

great defender under Mourinho, doesn’t fit Van Gaal’s system…yet in 2002 the Brazilian press called him a donkey for giving away a goal vs England.

Kane Prior on July 11, 2011 at 9:47 am

Good game, i think fred actually made the difference as brazil need a penalty area presence, someone to occupy the centre backs and finish off the moves, and also be available for crosses. In a prefect world the striker should be able to drop deep and help build up and also have great movement to make space for midfield runners, but Brazil dont have a world class striker, so Fred will have to do, not a long term option, but if it helps brazil win the copa and build confidence then surely its worth it.
I would then move pato out to the right cutting in as i think he would be more comfortable there and also get more time on the ball. I actually think brazils main weakness has been pato up front, he doesnt create enough space for the other players and has been so wasteful with great balls played into him, if those has been finished off most people wouldnt be criticising brazil so much right now.

Santana on July 11, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Hulk + Marcelo = Better Brazil.
Even Kaká would be a could player to have.
When managers are unfair I can only wish bad luck.

Josef on July 11, 2011 at 4:24 pm

Mrcelo? not so much. He’s great, but as several other people have indicated upthread, his desire/mentality to play for the national team is in question and if I were coach and I had the pick from among millions of soccer-mad Brazilians, I would definitely not take someone who didn’t want to be there.

João Cunha on July 11, 2011 at 2:07 pm

Ooooh, Menezes… I think you should have called Hulk. But hey!! Just an opinion!!

Afonso on July 11, 2011 at 8:16 pm

of course… hulk is the better attack option brasil has and he isn’t even on the bench…

Marcelo wasn’t called up for faking an injury for a friendly, fair enough. Kaka said he was injured, which seems fair enough, too. Why he didn’t call Hulk or Nilmar, I can’t really tell you. Maybe the feeling was that with Robinho, Pato, and Neymar they had enough forwards. After all, the only other forward is Fred, and perhaps he’s a plan B center forward type and they figured that’s all they needed.

But Robinho, Pato, and Neymar have been ineffective. Dropping Robinho took guts because of the way he’s seen in Brazil. Batista should take note and drop Tevez, even if the hometown crowd will want his head. But if Argentina don’t win they’ll DEFINITELY sack him, so it’s time to step up.

I’ve really liked the way Jadson plays from what I’ve seen of him with Shaktar and Brazil and I’m surprised he’s not wanted by a team in a “bigger” league. I agree that Adriano Correia should play instead of Andre Santos, though.

Ecuador should be the weakest team, and ostensibly Costa Rica too, so Argentina and Brazil should advance. But then again, they shouldn’t each have two points only. It’ll be very interesting if they both crash out so early.

john on July 11, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Everybody stop talking about Hulk all the time, he currently plays left winger so he’s not an option to be any kind of central pivot.
He is powerful so maybe in a few years he’d be able to play that role but he’s definitely not ready for it right now

john on July 11, 2011 at 10:00 pm

left and right winger

J.C.Beast on July 12, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Anyone miss Kaka?

The Lone Deranger on July 12, 2011 at 6:30 pm

And Fabiano and Silva and Juan and Maicaon and Dunga?
Yes!
Dunga’s Brazil was one of my most favourite teams to watch.

A front three of Neymar, Pato and Robinho seems good but who would do the defensive work. It’s always hard for a 4-3-3 to work when the wide strikers are as uninterested in tracking back as Robinho and Neymar are.I would hope that the coach would employ Robinho as the second striker in a slight variation of the 4-3-1-2 as Dunga use to instead of putting him on the bench altogether because that is his best position. Great article!